While Charlie's Away
by erica714
Summary: Set in between New Moon and Eclipse, Charlie has to go away for a week for work but he doesn't want to leave Bella home alone. Why? Because she's still grounded. Full summary inside, mostly just a lot of fluff.
1. Chapter 1

Summary :This story takes place in between New Moon and Eclipse. Charlie has to leave for a week for work but doesn't want to leave Bella home alone. Why? Because she's still grounded. Charlie asks someone to keep an eye on her while he is away, someone he is sure will up hold his rules and keep an eye on Bella. Who did he leave in charge? read to find out ;) this story is mostly just fluff. You've been warned.

Author's Note: It might have taken forever, but for those of you who have read my previous stories I'm sure your not surprised at all. I hope you all enjoy!

Disclaimer: I dont own them, I wish I did.

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Chapter 1

"Hey Bells! Can you come down here for a minute?" Charlie called up the stairs.

"Yeah, what's up Dad?" Bella asked as she left her room coming down the stairs with her backpack.

"Listen Bella" Charlie said motioning towards the table. Bella gave him an odd look but went and sat down

"I have a work trip coming up" Charlie said sitting down at the table with her "I have to go up to Seattle for a week"

"Ok" Bella said, not really knowing what he was getting at.

"Well" He started "I know you're not a little kid any more, but I've never left you here alone"

"Ill be fine, Dad. I used to stay alone over night when Mom and Phil would go to some of the closer away games" She told him.

"Yeah I know. I just….ok look, here's the thing" Charlie said a bit awkwardly "Your still grounded and I just need to make sure you will be following the rules..."

"I haven't broken one" Bella interrupted.

"I know" Charlie said quickly "But your young, your going to be alone for a week I just…I called Mrs. Cullen and asked her to keep an eye on you"

Bella looked at him for a moment "So I'm… staying at the Cullen's?" she asked skeptically

"Well no, She offered to take you for the week but I didn't think that would be the best idea since you're still grounded. We decided that you would stay here, and check in with her from time to time" Charlie told her.

"Ummm, ok" She said trying not to look too happy about this.

"The same rules apply, she obviously knows what's been going on and she has assured me that the rules will be followed down to the letter." He said.

"There is one difference, you are allowed over to her house for dinner, but you have to be home by 9pm everything else stays the same" Charlie continued.

"That sounds, fair" Bella said trying not to smile.

"Good" Charlie giving her a calculating glance "I'm glad you are ok with this." he added after a few moments of silence.

"Ill leave you money for food and or emergencies while I'm gone. I won't be that far so if there's any type of… problem I can be back pretty quick" he told her.

Bella wasn't sure if that was supposed to scare her or make her feel better.

"When do you leave?" Bella asked getting up to grab a pop tart out of the pantry.

"Ill be leaving next Sunday and coming back the following Saturday." He told her.

"What's the trip for?" she asked sitting back down with her breakfast.

"Training, Washington State has a training week every year where the captain from each department has to go and get caught up on all the latest techniques and policies and law changes. Then we all go back and teach it to our guys" Charlie told her

"Sounds great…"Bella said making a face.

"It's ok" Charlie laughed "You get to meet up with a lot of people, and make ties. Were going to go to a Mariners game while were there"

"Oh well that sounds fun" Bella said standing up from the table. "Well, better get moving I don't want to be late. See ya later dad"

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"Hello love" Edward whispered as he came up behind Bella in the parking lot and wrapped his arms around her.

"Hi" She beamed up at him. Turning around to face him she leaned in for a kiss.

"So guess what" she said as the kiss came to an end, taking his hand as they walked to class.

"What?" He asked with a smile as he took her backpack from her and threw it over his shoulder with his own.

She rolled her eyes but smiled anyways as she said "Charlie's going away for a week next week and Ill be home allllllll alone."

"Is that so?" he asked raising his eyebrow at her.

"Yep, and it gets better. Charlie left Esme in charge" she smiled "All the same rules apply, but I'm allowed to come over to your house for dinner as long as I'm home by 9. Oh, and I've got to call Esme when I get home to check in and things like that"

Edward grinned "So that's why Esme was planning out various meals this morning when we left"

"She doesn't actually have to cook for me" Bella said her eyes getting wide "I didn't mean I would actually eat at your house, just that I'm allowed out."

"It would make her really happy to cook you dinner Bella." He said opening the classroom door for her. "She loves to take care of her kids" He added.

Bella smiled "It would be silly of her to cook just for me, I can just eat at home or bring food over." she said as they took their seats in the back of the classroom.

"Whatever makes you happy" Edward said "I'm looking forward to getting you out of that house"

"Only if Esme says it's ok, Ill have to check with her first" Bella said with a smile as the bell rang.

"Your right we will have to ask Esme, I hope she says yes" He laughed as the teacher called the class to order.

As the rest of the week went by Bella helped Charlie pack for his trip. Every now and then he would randomly ask her to recite the rules to insure that she knew and would obey them.

Edward came over on Saturday night to see Bella during her visiting hours after dinner.

"Bella"

"hmmm?" she asked not looking up from the sink where she was washing the dishes.

"Jasper and I are going hunting tonight" Edward told her from his place at the kitchen table.

Bella spun around to look at him, splashing water all over the floor. He noticed she looked sad even though she tried to correct her facial expression before he noticed.

"How long will you be gone?" she asked

"We should be back by tomorrow night at the latest. It wont be long I promise" He said with a reassuring smile as he stood up and walked over to her.

"Ill miss you" She whispered as he wrapped his arms around her.

"Ill miss you too, but we have the entire week to spend together" he said with a smile as he kissed her neck.

"That's true" She said brining her arms up to wrap around his neck. "Gives me something to look forward to" then as a second thought she added "ill be all alone tomorrow"

"Ill have Alice stop by" he told her.

This made Bella smile, as he leaned in to kiss her gently on the lips.

"Oh, look at that its 9 o clock" Charlie announced as he came into the kitchen, looking happy to be rid of Edward.

"Ill see you Monday at school" Edward told Bella as he kissed her on the forehead.

"You goin somewhere?" Charlie asked

"Yeah my brother and I are taking a quick hiking trip tomorrow and we won't get back until late tomorrow night, just in time to get some sleep before school" Edward told Charlie with a smile at Bella.

"Oh, well have fun" Charlie said looking even happier to see Edward go.

"We will" Edward smiled "Have a safe work trip" Edward told Charlie as he walked to the front door with Bella.

"Love you" She said kissing him.

"I love you too, Ill see you tomorrow night" he whispered into her ear with a kiss on the cheek then turned to leave.

Bella caught the back of his shirt as he started to walk away. He turned back to look at her with a questioning gaze,

"I don't get to see you until tomorrow night and all I get is a kiss on the cheek?" She asked now holding on to the front of his shirt.

Edward smiled and leaned down to rest his forehead against hers, brining his hands up to cradle her face he whispered "I don't know what I was thinking, please forgive me"

"Well see" Bella smiled up at him "If you make it up to me"

Edward leaned in to kiss her lips. After a few moments he backed away leaving Bella breathless.

"Will that work" He asked with a smirk.

"Defiantly" She smiled but only if you do it again.

Edward laughed but brought his lips down to meet hers again.

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AN2: There we have it first chapter, what did you think?


	2. Chapter 2

Ok here we are Chapter 2! I would have had it up earlier but for some reason it wouldnt let me upload the file... it was very odd.

I hope you enjoy!

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Bella I'm leaving" Charlie called from the front door as he set his bag down.

"Ok Dad have fun" Bella said as she came out of the living room to meet him by the door.

"Yeah, Ill try. What are your plans for tonight?" He asked.

"Oh you know, dinner, a movie, a wild party and staying out till dawn, nothing special" Bella said

Charlie did not look impressed.

"Calm down" Bella laughed "I'm going to finish some homework, and then Mrs. Cullen invited me to dinner. Then its home promptly by 9 call her to let her know I got here and get ready for school tomorrow"

"Ok" Charlie said looking a bit relieved "Don't be out late"

"I wont I promise, Ill come home right after dinner" She told him.

"Good. I left some money for you on the counter, it's for food or emergencies or whatever" Charlie told her.

"Thanks Dad"

"Ok, time to hit the road" Charlie said as he turned to leave.

"Bye dad, have fun" Bella called after him.

As soon as Charlie was out the door and putting his bags into to his car the phone rang.

"I'm coming to pick you up. Be ready were going out"

"Alice, I can't leave I'm grounded. I can't be out past 9." Bella told her

"Yes I know that, but he didn't say anything about being out before dinner" Alice told her.

"I don't know Ill have to ask Esme" Bella said with a smile.

"Perfect I'm on my way to your house now, and then we can go back and talk to Esme"

"Fine" Bella conceded with an eye roll "I can't believe you are making me break the rules with my father still in the driveway"

"Yeah yeah yeah get ready Ill be there in 4 minutes" Alice said before hanging up.

Bella went upstairs brushed her hair a bit and changed her shirt into something Alice would approve of for going out. When Bella came down stairs Alice was already waiting for her in the kitchen

Bella smiled "Don't you ever knock?"

"Nope" Alice smiled back as she pulled Bella out of the house, to Rosalie's waiting M3.

"Ummm is Rosalie ok with me being in her car?" Bella asked nervously.

"Well I didn't ask her, but seeing as how she's in a different country at the moment, I don't really care" Alice said starting the car and driving off.

"I'm pretty sure she will" Bella commented.

"Ill protect you from her don't worry"

"Thanks" Bella laughed. "Where is she?"

"She and Emmett took a trip up to Canada for the week" Alice told her

Alice wasted no time in getting them to her house. Bella had learned to just close her eyes and let it happen; there was nothing that could be done about Alice's driving.

"Esme!" Alice yelled as she dragged Bella into the house.

Bella laughed at Alice's unnecessary shout. She knew Esme would hear her even if she whispered.

"You better have a good reason from bringing a prisoner into my home outside of her allotted visiting hours" Esme said coming down the stairs.

"Hello Bella" She said hugging her.

"Hi Esme, Alice kidnapped me" She tried to explain.

Esme turned to look at Alice with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh stop it, you know you don't like her being punished any more than I do. We want to go to the mall but Bella needs your permission" Alice explained.

"Is that so?" Esme asked Alice

"Yes" She replied with a single nod of her head.

Esme turned to look at Bella.

"Umm, Esme I was wondering if it would be ok if I went to the mall with Alice" Bella asked suddenly nervous about the answer.

"Well Bella you are grounded and I did spend a great deal of time talking to Charlie about the rules and what you could and could not do" Esme started.

"Yeah grounded for saving your son's life" Alice interrupted her.

Esme turned to Alice "Yes that's true but, Charlie was very specific about Bella's rules"

"She's been in the house for four weeks straight" Alice said.

"No, you know what…its ok" Bella said "Alice just take me home I shouldn't have even asked, I'm sorry Esme I didn't mean to put you in that awkward position"

"Bella" Esme smiled "I was only joking; of course you can go to the mall. I told Charlie I would keep and eye on you and I will. I will make sure you are safe while he is away but I'm not going to make you serve time for bringing my family back to me."

Bella's eyes got really big "Seriously? Oh thank you Esme!" she said hugging her.

"You are welcome, but you have to be back in time for dinner. And you must be home by 9pm no exceptions" Esme added with a smile.

"Lets go" Alice said

"Thanks Esme!" Bella called as Alice pulled her out of the room.

Alice suddenly stopped and came back to kiss Esme on the cheek "You are the best mom ever and we will bring you back some thing pretty"

With that Bella and Alice were gone.

When Bella and Alice returned it was to find Edward sitting in the garage waiting for them. He came over to open Bella's door for her, then pulled her into a hug and kissed her gently on the lips.

"How was the mall?" he asked.

"It was great" she smiled "how was your hunt with Jasper?"

"Great" he answered.

"Can I help you with the bags?" he asked

"Yes thank you" Bella smiled.

Edward carried all the girls shopping into the house. Bella was met by the smell of garlic when she entered.

She smiled and raised an eyebrow at Edward.

"Myth" he told her.

She laughed and headed to the kitchen followed by Edward and Alice.

"Bella" Esme greeted her excitedly "I've started off light" she told Bella "Spaghetti and garlic bread"

"Oh Esme, you didn't have to!"

"I wanted to" Esme smiled

"It smells amazing" Bella told her.

"Please try it" Esme said offering her a plate.

Bella sat down at the bar in the kitchen and took a bite of spaghetti Esme placed in front of her. "Oh my god" she said bringing her hand up to her mouth.

"What's wrong?" Edward asked at the same time Esme asked "Is it not good?"

"No, its amazing" Bella smiled up at her. "I think this may be the best spaghetti I've ever had in my entre life. What kind of sauce did you use?"

"The one out of the cooking book" Esme said holding up the book.

"You made this from scratch?" Bella asked taking another bite.

"Yes" Esme answered looking thrilled that Bella was enjoying her meal.

"Wow, you defiantly need to give me the recipe" Bella said as she took a bite of the garlic bread.

Esme beamed "You can have the book if you'd like" she said walking over to where Bella was sitting to hand it to her.

"Everyday Meals published in …1932" Bella read, then looked up at Esme "Why would you buy a cook book in 1932?"

"Well" Esme laughed "We were living in Rochester at the time, and this book was the talk of the town among the women. So keeping up appearances I went down to the book shop and bought one just like everyone else."

Bella smiled "Well thank you, but I couldn't."

"Why not?" Esme asked her "We've had absolutely no use for this book for 70 years"

"Well if your sure" Bella said "Thank you"

"Its no trouble at all dear" Esme answered.

"Let me get that for you" Esme said picking up Bella's plate once she had finished eating.

"No I can get it. At least let me do the dishes after all the trouble you went through to cook dinner for me" Bella said standing up.

Esme smiled again "It was no trouble Bella, I enjoyed it. Besides you should be getting home its nearly 9 o'clock.

"Thank you again Esme I loved it" Bella said hugging her.

"You are most welcome my dear"

"Bye Bella" Alice called from somewhere upstairs.

"Bye Alice" Bella responded with a smile as Edward led her out to the garage.

"Ok lets see if we can get you home in time" Edward smiled as he closed the car door behind Bella.

"We have 7 minutes" She told him as he appeared in the drivers side instantaneously "We'll never make it"

Edward laughed "A good rule of thumb to remember for future reference love, never tell a vampire there's something that cant be done"

With that he slammed the car into reverse and sped out of the driveway.

"You may want to close your eyes for this" he advised.

She looked at him for just a moment wide eyed and then did as she was told.

With her eyes clamped shut she held on very tightly to the arm rest the whole way home. She did notice however, after a few moments that it wasn't as bad as she thought it was going to be, she still didn't run the risk of opening her eyes to see how fast he was driving.

After what felt like just a couple of minutes Edward announced they were there. As Bella and Edward walked threw the front door the phone rang.

"Hello?" Bella answered. "Hey dad! How is Seattle? Good, yeah I just walked in the door, 2 minutes early and everything. Dinner was great we had spaghetti, no I haven't called her yet I just walked in. Yes Ill call her now, ok goodnight dad" Bella said as she hung up with an annoyed look on her face.

"I'm pretty sure he's been calling every few minutes for the last hour" She told Edward.

He just laughed and said "I wouldn't be surprised"

"I'm sure he's actually a bit disappointed I made curfew" she muttered to herself as she picked up the phone again.

"Hey Esme" she smiled "I just wanted to let you know I was home and to thank you again for dinner. Ok, talk to you tomorrow" She finished as she hung up the phone.

She turned around to look at Edward "This is exciting, here you are standing in my kitchen at 9:05 pm and the best part is you don't have to leave" she said with a smile as she wrapped her arms around him.

"Yep, I'm here all week" he smiled "I'm sure you will be sick of me in a couple of days and beg me to leave you alone" he joked.

"Impossible, I never want you to leave" she whispered as she kissed him.

"I'm glad you feel that way" he said with a smirk when he backed away so Bella could breathe.

After a bit Edward backed away from her again and said "As much as I am enjoying this we do have school tomorrow, and I want you to be well rested"

Bella backed away slightly then after one more kiss agreed and started getting ready for bed.

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Ok let me know what you think! ;)


	3. Chapter 3

AN: WOW it has been FOREVER! sorry about that, I guess I just got carried away with real life, but I promise I will be better at updating a lot more regularly from now on, I have a bit of the story written now, and some pretty good ideas of where I want it to go from here so it should all just be about filling in the blanks now. thanks for being so patient! This chapter was something I just wrote tonight to get be out of my writers block. Its nothing great but I think there is some cute stuff in here...I will defiantly get better from here, well at least I think so.

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Bella groaned as the alarm clock went off for the third time as she rolled over and covered her head with the pillow.

"You know, it will actually stop once you get up and turn it off" Edward said with a chuckle from his place in the rocking chair.

Bella looked over at him from under the pillow then gave up "Fine, Ill get up"

"Good" Edward smiled as he came over to sit next to her on the bed.

"You get ready for school and Ill make you breakfast"

Bella looked at him for a moment then asked "Do you even know how to cook?"

"I'm sure I can figure it out" he smirked kissing her softly on the lips "now, go get ready"

Bella smiled as she stole another kiss before getting up and heading to the bathroom to prepare for the day.

When she came down stairs Edward was waiting for her at the kitchen table.

She had to laugh as she came in and noticed her breakfast. He had placed a toasted Pop-tart on a plate along side a glass of orange juice, a napkin and a long stem red rose.

Edward got up and pulled her chair out for her. As she sat down she picked up the rose and smelled it.

"This looks great" She smiled

"I tried to go with something I knew you would make for yourself. I know you don't like extravagance" He told her looking very proud of himself.

"You did a great job" she told him with a smile as she took a bite of the Pop-tart.

After eating she cleaned her plate and they left for school.

"Why don't you go sit and Ill bring lunch" Edward told Bella as they walked into the cafeteria.

When she looked up at him with an odd expression he continued "Your friends want to talk to you"

"Oh…ok"

She noticed as soon as she approached the table that Alice wasn't there either, she must have seen whatever conversation Edward was hearing in their minds.

"Hey guys" Bella greeted as she sat down next to Angela

"Hey Bella"

"What's up?"

"Hey"

"Where's Edward?" Angela asked looking around.

"He's getting us lunch" Bella answered motioning over to where he stood in line.

Angela smiled and looked like she was going to say something but she was cut off when Jessica leaned across the table "I heard your dad's out of town"

"Um, yeah he's in Seattle for work" Bella answered.

"That's cool any good plans while he's away?" She asked looking very interested.

"Like what?" Bella asked confused as to why Jessica was so excited.

"I don't know a party or anything like that" Jessica answered.

"Oh, no I cant. I'm grounded" Bella responded.

"Yeah but your dad is out of town, how would he know?" Jessica persisted

"Mrs. Cullen is keeping an eye on me for him, I would never get away with it." Bella told her.

"Oh, will that's too bad" Jessica said looking suddenly uninterested in Bella once again.

Bella and Angela exchanged looks before Angela asked "Still grounded huh?"

"Oh yeah"

"How long do you think that will last?"

"Forever" Bella answered "Charlie is not to happy with me at the moment"

"What happened?" Angela asked then quickly added "if you don't mind me asking"

Bella hadn't really talked to any of her "friends" about this, a few had asked mainly Jessica and Mike but she had brushed them off. For some reason Angela asking didn't bother her.

"Its pretty complicated. There was a… misunderstanding and I left with out really letting Charlie know where I was going to sort it out, it's a long story but it all got worked out in the end." Bella supplied.

"A misunderstanding?" she asked "With Edward?"

"Yeah with Edward" Bella answered "And Alice and something their sister told him"

"But now everything is ok?" Angela asked seeing that Bella didn't want to get into the details.

Bella smiled and said "Yeah, everything is great"

"Good" Angela said sounding genuinely happy for Bella "I'm glad it all worked out, I was really worried about you for a while"

Bella took a deep breath "Yeah I know I was sort of out of it for a while… It was just a bad time for me, but its better now"

"Good, I'm really glad you are better now….happier" Angela told her.

Bella smiled "thanks Ang. I am very happy now"

Edward sat down next to Bella at about the same time she noticed Alice slide in next to Angela.

Bella smiled at Edward then Alice. Everything was good with her family now, but she had never really talked about it with anyone besides Alice or Edward. It felt good to know she could let someone else in even if it was just a little bit.

"Bella" Alice said leaning across the table to pick up an apple off the tray Edward brought with him "Esme wants to know what you want for dinner tonight."

"I thought you said you were grounded" Jessica cut in from the other side of Alice.

Bella looked at her for a moment before answering "I am, one of the conditions of my dad being out of town is that I can go to dinner at Edwards house, but I still have to be home by curfew."

"Oh" Jessica looked disappointed again as she turned back to the conversation at the other end of the table.

"Tell her Ill eat at home tonight" Bella smiled "She doesn't need to cook for me every single night, but I appreciate the offer"

"Ok" Alice smiled "Ill let her know your staying in. Should I also let her know to set one less place at the table tonight?" she asked turning to Edward.

"I don't know, I haven't been invited anywhere else as of yet" Edward answered Alice with a grin.

Alice rolled her eyes and Bella laughed.

"Ill see if I can find a place for you at my house for dinner" Bella told him.

"But I _thought_ you said you were grounded" Jessica cut in once again.

"I am" Bella answered without looking over at her "Edward has visiting hours from 7-930 every night"

"Oh" Jessica responded before turning back around.

"I think she really wants you to break the rules" Angela whispered to Bella.

"I think she does too" Bella responded looking up at Edward who just nodded his head as the bell rang.

"What was that all about?" Bella asked Edward as they were getting their books out of her locker.

"Jessica is bored, she wants something interesting to gossip about, and she figures with Charlie being out of town and me being back we would do something to talk about"

"Glad to know she shows such an interest" Bella replied with an eye roll.

When school was out Bella met Edward at his locker and they walked hand in hand to the parking lot.

"So what do you want to do this afternoon?" he asked her.

"I don't really care as long as I get to spend it with you" she replied smiling up at him.

"Well I think that can be arranged" He smiled back down at her.

"You know its pretty warm outside why don't we go sit in the back? We can bring a blanket to sit on and you can just read all afternoon."

"That sound perfect" Bella agreed.

When they got back to Bella's headed to her room to put her stuff down and saw that Edward had already grabbed a blanket from the hall closet. He took her hand in his and led her out into the back.

He led her around to the side of the house and felt her hesitate when he started towards the path into the forest. When he turned to look at her all she could do was shake her head and try to pull him in the opposite direction.

"Bella" Edward whispered and quickly pulled her into his arms. He held her for a before whispering into her ear "Never again"

" I couldn't if I wanted to, which I never will" he whispered into her hair. He placed his hands on either side of her face to make her look at him. "I love you" he smiled as he kissed her lightly on the lips "I just wanted to sit a bit out of the way so we can sit in the sun" he explained.

Bella took a deep breath and nodded "I love you too, and I know. It just brought back the memory…" her voice cut off, not allowing herself to get into it she leaned in and kissed him once more. "Come on lets go find a nice place to sit"

Edward watched her for a second then pulled her a long to find a place that was in the sun. He spread out the blanket he was carrying when he reached a place that was far enough from the trees that they wouldn't be in the shadows any time soon. There was still a lot of cloud coverage so there was no direct sunlight that would reflect off his skin but enough to make the area warm.

Edward sat down and Bella laid her head in his lap and began reading the book she brought out. He smiled at her and let his fingers run through her hair as he started on his own book.

"Read your book Isabella" Edward said never looking down at her but sounding amused.

"Id rather watch you" she responded her eyes searching his face. He smiled at her when his eyes locked on hers as soon as he lowered his book.

He smirked at her as she reached up with one hand to run her finger over his features. He closed his eyes and leaned into her touch.

"Hey" she whispered as he opened his eyes to look at her.

"Hi" he responded simply as she contented staring at him. "I love you, you know that" he asked moving the hair away from her face.

"I do" she whispered back, then rolled her eyes when Edward grinned at her choice of words. "Ugh, I was just answering your questions. Don't get any ideas"

"Oh the ideas are already there Bella" he smirked as he leaned down to capture her lips with his.

After a few moment he back away slightly to let her catch her breath, she followed him as if being pulled along by a magnet. "I love you too" she whispered

"I know" he responded as he wrapped his arms around her. After a moment or two he noticed her start to shiver. He looked around and saw that it was getting dark. " I guess its time to head in" he told her as he stood and wrapped her in the blanket they had just been sitting on and began carrying her into the house.

"I'm not ready to go back in" She said looking a bit sad.

Edward chuckled "Bella your getting cold, besides the light is better inside if you would like to continue your ogling. Not to mention we could turn the heat on inside in you want me to touch you with out fear of frost bite"

Bella instantly perked up "That sounds like a wonderful idea!"

Edward rolled his eyes "Don't get any ideas"

"Oh the ideas are already there Edward" She laughed repeating his earlier statement.

He just shook his hand and carried her inside.

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AN2: I almost forgot! WHO LOVED NEW MOON? I DID! lol Ive seen it like 6 times already, and I love it more and more each time...ok fan girl moment over :) ill get back to writing. Please let me know what you thought about the chapter! and new moon too if you would like ;)


	4. Chapter 4

AN: I HONESTLY don't know where the time goes! One minute I'm posting the last chapter telling everyone Ill try to get the next one up quicker and the next thing I know its over a month later...Im so sorry! RL has a really good way of sneaking in there and messing things up, BUT lucky for you guys I will be on vacation for about a week so I should be able to get some more posts in. As always thanks for your patients with me I appreciate it!

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Bella was just finishing up her cereal when the she heard the doorbell ring followed by 3 sharp raps on the door. She looked over at Edward with a raised eyebrow but he offered no help he just rolled his eyes as she passed.

Bella opened the door and smiled "Since when do you knock?" she asked as she hugged her second favorite vampire.

"I thought I'd try something new" Alice shrugged "I didn't like it too much, takes too long to get in" she added wrinkling her nose.

Bella laughed "Heaven forbid you wait for something."

"Exactly! Now get your stuff and let's go I'm driving today." Alice instructed.

Bella turned around to find Edward standing behind her holding her backpack up.

"Ok then let's go" she said as she took her bag from Edward and followed Alice out to the Porsche. Bella hopped in the backseat and they took off.

Bella didn't really like going to school in Alice's car, because all anyone ever wanted to talk about was the yellow Porsche on the days it sat in the parking lot.

As Bella expected every head turned in their direction as Alice pulled swiftly into a parking spot. Bella being Bella staying true to form got her foot caught in the seatbelt while she was climbing out of the backseat. She flew out of the car straight into Edwards arms.

"Smooth" Alice winked at Bella as she came around the car.

"Every now and then I would love to be able to smack you without hurting myself" Bella shot back.

"I'd be happy to be of service" Edward smirked taking Bella's hand, now that she was vertical.

Alice was suddenly out if reach of Edward and on the other side of Bella sticking her tongue out at him.

"It's not the getting hurt part that stops most people from hitting her" Edward told Bella "No one can ever actually catch her to smack."

"You wouldn't even if u could" Alice told him.

"No probably not, but it would be nice to have the option every now and again" Edward laughed.

Alice just rolled her eyes "see u at lunch" she said as she headed off in the direction of her first class.

"I'll be here when your off" Edward told her

"Thanks" she said gave him a Quick kiss and hopped our of the car she made it all the way to the door with out slipping in the water she turned to wave at Edward then went in.

"Hello Bella it's nice to see you again"

"Hi Mrs. Newton" Bella called out as Mrs. Newton left the store, looks like it was just her and Mike today great!

Bella got her vest and headed to the counter to see what needed to be done.

"Hey Mike" Bella said as he walked over towards her.

"Hey Bella you wanna go get something to eat after we close up?" He asked

"Oh I can't sorry" he responded

"How about tomorrow" he suggested

"No, Mike I'm grounded I'm not allowed out" Bella clarified.

"Your dad's not even here..." he pointed out

"Es...Mrs. Cullen is keeping an eye me" She explained.

"So Cullen's back" he said harshly

"Ummm yeah Mike they've been here for like 4 weeks" Bella said as she gave him an odd look for the sudden change of topic.

"I know I just never get to talk to you anymore" Mike said looking over at her.

"I see you everyday at school" Bella pointed out.

"Yeah but he's always around now so it's not the same" Mike responded.

"The same as what?" she asked "Its not like I talked to anyone before he came back"

"You talked to that huge kid from La Push all the time" Mike said his voice growing louder.

"You know his name Mike, Its Jacob" Bella said with a bit of edge in her voice.

"Yeah so what you just up and stop talking to him too?" Mike demanded.

"What?" Bella asked again.

"Now that Cullen's back, you just give up everyone else? After what he did  
to you" Mike asked angrily.

"You have no idea what your talking about Mike." Bella stated in a quiet voice

"Yes I do! He leaves you and you fall apart, then you start dating that kid Jared"

"Jacob!" Bella interrupted "and we were never dating, he's my…best friend"

"Whatever, he liked you and you just give it all up because Cullen decides to come back?" Mike asked "I don't get it Bella, of all the people"

"There's never been anyone else Mike! I don't know why I'm even talking about this with you!" she yelled trying very hard to keep the angry tears out of her eyes.

"No, no one else you just pick right back off where he left you" Mike stated.

"Stop it." Bella warned her hands were balled into fits and shaking

"There are so many other people Bella if you just look" Mike said softly trying to change his approach.

"I don't need to look Mike, stop it. Now" She warned

"Is that why you won't go out with me" Mike asked

"Go out with you?" Bella asked confused.

"I mean to get something to eat" he said changing his tone instantly.

"No Mike I'm grounded I can't! And to be honest I don't know that I'd want to go at all, with the way your acting."

"The way I'm acting?" this time he was confused.

"Yeah, you're not exactly being Mr. Charming right now Mike. Cut it out." Bella demanded.

"Whatever Bella… I'll be over here" Mike said sounding defeated and walked to the other side of the store.

Bella spent the rest of her shift slamming things around and doing everything she could to avoid Mike. Normally she would stay and help him close up, but tonight when 8pm hit Bella shoved her vest under the counter and left without saying a word to him.

She stormed out of the front door whipped open the passengers side door of the Volvo, threw herself in and slammed the door.

"Hi, how was.... What's wrong?" Edward asked changing his question mid sentence seeing the mood she was in.

"Nothing. Let's just go home" she spat as she fumbled around trying to buckle the seatbelt.

'Bella what happened?" Edward asked turning off the car.

"Nothing!... Mike is just an ass" She said getting frustrated and stopped fighting with the seatbelt. It flew out of her hand and hit the window causing Bella to jump at the loud noise.

"What did he do?" Edward asked his hand on the door handle.

"He insists on trying to get me to go out with him like he's some great catch or something" She said staring out the windshield.

"Ill go talk to him" Edward said taking his seatbelt off.

"No don't bother" Bella said reaching over to grab his hand as he started getting out of the car. Edward looked back her for a moment then closed his door.

"Fine but, I'm going to talk to him at school tomorrow" Edward said his hands gripping the steering wheel tightly.

"No I'm fine really, he's just annoying. I can take care of myself." She told him.

"Regardless, I don't like the way he talks to you, or thinks about you for that matter. He needs to be taught some manners" Edward stated firmly.

Bella burst out laughing.

"What?" Edward asked looking at her as if she were crazy.

"He needs to be taught some manners?" She asked through her giggles.

"What's wrong with that?" He asked.

"Nothing" Bella smiled "Its just not something high school boys generally say when someone hits on their girlfriend"

"What can I say?" Edward smiled "I'm extremely mature for my age"

Bella smiled then leaned over to kiss him on the cheek "Lets go home" she said as she managed to finally get her seatbelt on.

They spent the drive home talking about Mike and what he had said to Bella during her shift.

"He just really doesn't know how to take no for an answer and leave it at that" She said as they walked into the kitchen and Bella stopped dead in her tracks. Edward was suddenly standing in next to the dinner table lighting two candles.

"You made me dinner?" she asked in a whisper.

"I thought you might be tired after work and would like a nice surprise" he smiled at her as he brought a plate over to the table and pulled out her chair.

Bella stared at the table and then Edward and with a huff brought her hand up to cover her eyes

"Did I do something wrong?" Edward asked turning to look at the table to see if he could spot the problem.

"No, Its beautiful" She told him uncovering her face.

"Then what's the matter?" he asked gently as he came over to stand by her.

"You made me this beautiful dinner and I totally messed it up by complaining about Mike the whole way home" She explained.

"No you didn't" Edward laughed.

"I ruined the mood of the surprise by being in a bad mood" She continued.

"Bella no you didn't" Edward told her

Instead of arguing with her the next time she opened her mouth Edward took a step forward and lowered his lips to hers.

'What was I worried about?" Bella asked breathless when he backed away a few minutes later.

Edward just grinned back. "I don't know, I cant remember"

Bella smile quickly fell when she looked around and saw her ruined dinner sitting on the table, "Oh, right" she whispered.

"Come on let's take this somewhere else" Edward said "We can get the mood of the surprise back"

"What?" She asked looking up at him then back at the table when she noticed that he was holding a basket. It was empty.

"Where did u…"

"Shhhh" he whispered interrupting her with a quick kiss "come with me" he added as he picked her up and took off.

"Where are we…" She began to ask another quested before being cut off by him

"Shhh, just close your eyes"

After only a moment or two he set her down gently but kept his arms tightly around her waist from behind "Open your eyes" he whispered in her ear

Bella opened her eyes and smirked. "You did not just bring the clumsiest person in the world onto the roof"

"Oh but I did" Edward answered through his crooked smile. "Stay still for a moment"

Without letting go of Bella he pulled a blanket out of his basket and with one arm set it out on the roof. He leaned down to sit with his legs out stretched, then pulled Bella down to sit in front of him. Reaching around her he pulled out another blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders finally pulling her back to lean against his chest.

"How's this for a change of mood?" He asked as he kissed the side of her neck.

"Amazing" she replied with a huge smile. "What did I do to deserve you?" She asked him.

"No" he shook his head then leaned his chin on her shoulder "I'm the lucky one. I love you"

"I love you" She breathed as her lips met his in a kiss.

"Now" Edward said as he pulled back and reached for his basket "lets get you fed."

He pulled a small container out of his basket and began feeding her by hand while she just smirked at him.

"You know for someone who doesn't eat, you're a pretty good cook" she told him

"Thank you" He whispered kissing the side of her neck "I'm glad you enjoyed it"

"I did." She smiled "This is so beautiful, the stars are so bright"

"Its one of the few nights you can actually see them from here" He told her "So, you picked a good night to ruin dinner" he grinned.

She opened her mouth to apologize again but he cut her off "You see that bright star there?" he asked pulling her closer and pointing upward "That's the North Star, it makes up the end of the tail of the big dipper, you see it?"

Bella nodded her head "And over there is Orin's belt, if you follow the stars around you can actually see the whole constellation.

"Oh look a shooting star" Bella pointed out.

They watched it fly by the Edward whispered in her ear "You're my shooting star"

Bella grinned as she leaned back to kiss him.

"This is ridiculous" Bella said after a few minutes "you are just too perfect"

Edward laughed "I'm sorry I'll try to be…. less perfect"

"Please don't" she smiled up at him "Because I love you"

"Even though I'm perfect?" he grinned his crooked grin

She nodded as she leaned in to kiss him again "I love you just the way you are" she whispered against his lips.

"I should bring you on the roof more often" he smiled "you seem very happy"

Bella laughed against his lips

"That has nothing to do with the roof, it's you. You make me happy." she said kissing him again then rested her head on his shoulder so she could look up at him. "I'm just excited we are getting to spend so much time together you know, when I'm not sleeping or in school. I've missed this"

Edward smiled "So have I. I'm happy we get to spend time like this together too love".

They stayed out on the roof until it started to drizzle and Edward carried her back inside.

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Thanks again for reading, and feel free to let me know what you thought! ;)


	5. Chapter 5

Its been forever I know! but Ive come to the realization that I should stop being surprised when its been so long and just apologize and move on. so here we go a lot later than I wanted it, sorry for the delay but thanks for all the patients! I really appreciate it.

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Bella woke up to the smell of coffee, turning over and looking at the clock on her bedside table she saw that she still had 7 minutes before the alarm went off. She stretched a bit and turned the alarm off.

Just as she got out of bed she found Edward leaning against her door frame.

"Leave it to you" he smiled as he shook his head. "The one morning I try to bring you breakfast in bed you wake up before the alarm goes off"

"Sorry" she smiled then sat back down. "Well it looks to me like I'm still in bed, sooooo the whole thing _might_ just work out for you….What?" she asked after Edward just stared at her for a moment

"You are actually going to let me serve you breakfast in bed? I thought you would hate the idea"

Bella rolled her eyes "I don't like being the center of attention or having huge amounts of money spent on me for no reason. You bringing me breakfast in bed? I think I can handle that" she finished with a smile.

"Well good!" He laughed as he brought a tray in and set it over her lap as he sat down next to her. "But just so you know" he leaned over and whispered in her ear as he kissed her cheek "You are always the center of my attention"

She turned red immediately and took a deep breath to steady herself. "That I actually don't mind" she half smiled. "You always steal my attention, I can't focus on anything else when you are around."

"So I guess it's fair" Edward suggested.

"Yep"

"Well now that that's settled, eat up before it gets cold."

Bella looked down at her plate for the first time. "Scrambled eggs and toast, perfect!" she said kissing his cheek.

She ate quickly in relative silence.

"Must have been good, you never eat that quickly" Edward commented.

"I don't get hoe you can make something as simple as eggs and toast taste sooo amazing, but this was amazing" she said putting her fork down.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it" He smiled as he got up to collect the tray.

"Oh and Edward" Bella called from her place still sitting in bed. When he turned around she kneeled in front of him so they were eye to eye and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I don't want you to feel like you can't do things for me. I just wish sometimes you wouldn't spend so much money, but even when you do… I just want you to know, I always love it, no matter what, even if I don't seem overly grateful at the time. Thank you" she whispered as she brought her lips to meet his in a passionate kiss.

"Thank _you_!" Edward smiled when she backed away causing Bella to get pink in the cheeks.

"Sorry" She rambled looking away "I guess I got a bit carried away"

"Bella" he said lifting her chin so her eyes met his "Nothing you do is every wrong, silly girl. Ever" he said kissing her firmly on the lips "I don't know where all this self doubt comes from but it's completely unfounded."

Bella just nodded with her eyes closed and rested her forehead against his.

"I wish we could just skip school and stay in bed all day…I … well you know that I meant"

Edward chuckled "Yeah I do. But you have missed enough school on my account."

"You're right, I can't afford to miss anymore school for the rest of the year"

"I would love to though" Edward smiled.

Bella smiled and let out a huge breath "yeah me too…. I love you"

"I love you too" he responded as their lips met. "You have to get ready for school." He muttered against her lips after a few minutes.

"Mmmhmm" she mumbled against his lips but made no attempt to move.

Edward finally pulled away with a grin, "You can't really afford to be late either. Go get ready, Ill go get Alice and my car then be back for you in 20 minutes"

"Fine!" Bella exaggerated then smiled "See you soon" she stole one more kiss then stepped around Edward and headed towards the bathroom.

"Are you two gonna to make googly eyes at each other all day?" Alice asked on the drive to school after catching them staring at each other for the 4th time.

"You're the psychic you tell me" Bella responded curtly with out peeling her eyes away from Edward's.

Alice rolled her eyes but said nothing as she got out of the car causing Edward to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Bella asked.

"Well it turns out, we are going to make "googly eyes" at each other all day" he said putting air quotes around Alice's term "And Alice just cursed you out in 10 languages for having such a smart mouth"

Bella gasped "Alice! I thought you loved me!" Bella stated dramatically as she got of the car next to Alice.

Alice took a deep breath then retorted "How am I supposed to love you when you talk to me like that?!"

Bella laughed then quickly looked annoyed as Alice pulled her best puppy dog face on Bella.

"Oh that's not fighting the fake fight fairly" Bella accused.

"Ok ok ok stop it you're gonna make me cry" Bella laughed as she pulled Alice into a one armed hug as they walked through the parking lot.

"Silly Bella, you should have already known you couldn't out dramatic me" Alice chuckled as she threw both her arms around Bella's waist.

"Well I figured that since I can't out do you at anything" after a moment she leaned over and whispered "well not yet anyways" Alice giggled.

"Well see I doubt being a vampire will make you a better actress…oops!" Alice laughed after seeing Edward frown at their conversation.

"I think I made him angry" she whispered to Bella as they continued to walk through the school.

"You know you did" Bella laughed "But don't worry Ill protect you from him."

Alice laughed "Yeah…ok thanks Bella" she rolled her eyes and kissed her cheek. Then went very still and whispered "Newton wants to talk to you"

"Ugh" Bella grumbled as Mike came around the corner and stopped dead in his tracks surprised to see them.

"Uhhhh, Bella can I talk to you for a moment?" He asked her.

"What do you want Mike?" Bella asked as she looked back at Edward over Alice's shoulder and shook her head motioning him to stay where he was.

"I was hopping I could talk to you alone…" He said looking at Alice then taking a small step back.

"Anything you have to say to me you can say in front of Alice" Bella told him as she and Alice removed them selves from their embrace.

"I uhhh ummm I just wanted to say I was sorry and I came off the wrong way yesterday… I didn't mean to upset you"

"Fine Mike, anything else?" Bella asked annoyed. She shot another look over her shoulder to make sure Edward was following her request.

Mike's eyes followed Bella's and he just rolled them seeing what she was looking at. He shook his head and said "This isn't gonna work in front of them… Ill just talk to you later Bella"

"You're not gonna find me with out one of them if I can help it" Bella told him

"What you need protection?" he asked.

"No" Bella forced a laugh "I don't think Alice here is going to protect me from anyone" Alice just rolled her eyes.

"You just like them more than you like me" Mike said sounding defeated.

"No I don't…" Bella said causing him to look at her "I love them" she stated firmly.

"They are an extension of my family, no one is coming in between that" she told him

"Look Mike, we can be friends if you can deal with that fact, but I need some time to cool off, so why don't you just think about whether or not you can accept my family, because if you can't do that then we can't be friends at all"

"Fine" he said as he turned around and walked the other way.

Alice beamed at Bella, kissed her on the cheek then said "Ill see you at lunch"

"Bye Alice" Bella said staring at her oddly as she suddenly walked away.

Edward was there immediately with his arms wrapped around her waist from behind "thank you" she whispered as she leaned back into him.

"For what?" he asked kissing the back of her head.

"Not killing him… for letting me fight my own fight" she added.

"Well, I do want to kill him but, I wont…so you're welcome. Thank you" He whispered.

"For what?" she asked turning around to look at him.

"For sticking up for us, for the things you said to him" he told her.

"You can't be serious… You know all those things" She stated.

"Well yes, I know them. But saying them to other people is something completely different. Plus I think you made Alice want to cry" He smiled

"What?! Why?" Bella asked turning to look for her.

"Well, she loves you too and it's always been hard for her, not to be able to make friends. So she's happy to have you, and you telling people we are your family makes her really happy." Edward said.

Bella shook her head and whipped her eye before a tear of any sort could slip out "I can't believe you guys don't know this stuff, it takes me fighting with Mike for you both to get all sentimental"

"No, we know. Its just, having someone on the outside be on ….our side. Its new to us" He smiled "Believe me she knows and she feels the same way about you" he whispered

Bella laughed as they walked to her locker "This is ridiculous… there are far too many declarations of love before 8 am to be healthy."

Later at lunch Alice came floating into the cafeteria and over to Bella, where she wrapped her in a huge hug. "I love you too Bella, like a sister, you are my best friend and I want you to know that"

"Oh Alice! You are ridiculous" Bella laughed as she whipped her eyes

"Well I was going to tell you this morning but you made some comment about too much love before 8 am" Alice smiled rolling her eyes.

Bella just laughed and whipped her eyes again.

Alice laughed and whipped hers too for show then stood up quickly kissed Bella on the top of the head and said "I got lunch today, what do you want?"

"Anything is fine" Bella smiled as laying her head on Edwards shoulder as Alice walked away.

"Should I be worried?" Edward asked laughing.

"Don't be ridiculous! I love you too, in a completely different way" She said kissing his lips softly.

"Ugh! Is she gonna make out with ALL the Cullen's today?" Lauren asked in disgust from the other side of the table.

"Just ignore it" Bella smiled against Edward's lips.

Alice returned not a moment later sitting down opposite Bella and Edward with their lunch tray, but not before she shot Lauren a dirty look

Bella laughed "You too, just leave it be" Bella warned Alice as she picked what she wanted from the tray.

"Whatever she's just jealous" Alice whispered to Bella as Angela and Ben sat down "She wishes she could get her hands on one of the Cullen's. And you have all seven wrapped around you finger"

"I wouldn't say all 7" Bella corrected.

"She'll come around" Alice told her tapping her index finger to her temple making Bella smile.

"I'm assuming you are talking about Rosalie and not Mrs. Cullen" Angela asked Alice.

"Oh yes, Esme LOVES Bella! Rose does too she's just has a tougher shell to crack" Alice said.

"Yeah I'm SURE she does" Bella rolled her eyes.

"Speaking of Esme" Alice said "She would like you to come to dinner again tonight"

"I'd love to!" Bella smiled.

"Good Ill let her know. Rose and Emmett came back today, so she really wants to have the whole family at dinner" Alice said and whipping out her phone.

"Oh?" Bella responded with wide eyes.

"Yeah" Alice laughed "They _both _really missed you"

"I ….ummm missed them too" She swallowed hard. this would mark the first time she had seen Rose since the "Vote".

"I don't _understand_ how you can be so good at this!" Emmett cried

Bella laughed "Its not rocket science! Its just Yhatzee , there's no skill involved its all luck"

"Yeah whatever" Alice mumbled as she picked up the dice.

"She's just upset you picked a game she can't cheat at" Edward laughed "And Emmett hates loosing at anything."

Bella laughed too, she was kicking everyone's ass.

"Aw, come on!" Alice yelled when she rolled a bad hand. "This game is ridiculous!" she spat as she handed the dice to Rose, who was laying on the couch with her feet in Emmett's lap doing her best to pretend like there wasn't anything happening in the living room besides her watching TV.

Rose grabbed the dice and threw them without even looking at the board.

"How can she be in second?!" Alice demanded grabbing the score pad from Edward "She hasn't looked at the board since we started"

Edward laughed, but wrapped his arms more firmly around Bella who was on edge with Rosalie in the room.

"Bella, dinner's ready!" Esme called from the kitchen.

"Thank god, I can stop playing this game" Rose said as got up from the couch and headed upstairs.

"Don't mind her" Emmett whispered "She's just upset she was losing like the rest of us"

Bella smiled at him as she walked into the kitchen "Thanks Em,"

"Esme it smells amazing!" Bella gushed as she walked into the kitchen. Esme pulled out a chair for Bella at the kitchen bar where she had set a place for her.

Bella sat down and took a bite "Seriously, Esme you are the greatest cook ever! This is amazing."

Esme beamed at her.

"I'm offended by that" Edward laughed "I made you dinner last night"

"And that was great, but you've got nothing on Esme, she could open her own restaurant"

"Thank you Bella, Ill think about that"

"You let me know what you decide. I would probably keep you in business myself. I would eat there every night."

"I hardly see how that would keep me in business" Esme laughed.

"Well…" Bella looked at her oddly "it would be steady revenue"

Esme laughed again "No it wouldn't, family wouldn't pay in my restaurant"

Bella smiled and hugged her "I love you Esme"

"I love you too Bella" Esme smiled.

"I guess we found the way to Bella's heat" Emmett said coming into the kitchen "through her stomach"

"Hey! I loved Esme before she fed me!" Bella defended.

"Sure you did Bells" Emmett laughed as he walked up stairs.

"Who else are you gonna declare your love for today?" Alice asked coming to sit next to her "Did you slip her something when you made her breakfast?" she asked Edward.

"I guess I won't be telling you I love you again anytime soon" Bella retorted.

"Ooohhhhhh" Emmett called from upstairs making Bella laugh.

"Come on lets get you home before Charlie gets back from his game and calls you" Edward suggested when Bella was done eating.

Bella got home and called Esme then left a message at Charlie's hotel since he wasn't back from his baseball game yet.

Bella and Edward ended up on the couch wrapped up together. The TV was on but they weren't paying any attention to it.

Bella had her back to the TV facing Edward who had his back against the couch. Her legs were tangled up in his and she was staring up at him

"What are you thinking about" He asked running a finger along cheek.

"How much I love you" she responded quietly. Edward's crooked grin made its way across his face as he brought his lips down to meet hers.

Bella smiled into the kiss as her hands came up to run through his hair.

He backed away after a few moments with the same grin on his face. "I love you too" He whispered into her ear.

Instead of showing the frustration she felt for him breaking the kiss early she just laid her cheek on his chest and pulled him close enjoying the uninterrupted time they were getting to spend together.

She must have fallen asleep because next thing she knew it was dark and she was laying in her bed with a blanket around her.

"What time is it?" She groaned rolling further into Edward.

"Just after one" He whispered kissing her forehead.

"I have to call Charlie" she said as she started to sit up.

"He left a message a little while ago saying he just got in and figured you were asleep, so don't worry, go back to sleep.

Before she even had the chance to respond she was out again.

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thanks for readin' drop me a line and let me know what u thought. ;)


	6. Chapter 6

AN:Yay a new chapter! and only a few weeks after the last update, Im getting so much better at this LOL JK. ENJOY!

Disclaimer: I still don't own it

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"Ok class, no homework tonight. You can just use tonight to catch up on any of the previous chapters or any notes you want to go back over. See you all tomorrow" Mr. Varner said as the bell rang signaling the end of the period.

Edward was waiting right outside the door to her calculus class, she was walking out with Angela and they were talking about the class they just had.

"That was really odd" Angela commented as she saw Edward and smiled at him

"Yeah it was" Bella said her face lighting up when she saw Edward waiting for her.

"See you guys later" Angela waved as she walked off towards her next class.

"What was odd?" Edward asked as they walked to her locker.

"Mr. Varner didn't give us any homework, he always gives us homework" she told him.

"It wasn't odd, he's been thinking about giving a pop quiz to your class all week, and he just decided to have it tomorrow so that he has all weekend to grade them." Edward told her.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me he was planning a pop quiz!" Bella said grabbing her English book and hitting him with it.

Edward laughed and took the book from her "It wasn't a definite plan until just before class ended" He defended.

"But you knew it was an option! Now I need to spend the entire night studying" she groaned

"That's not so bad." he smiled.

Bella just stared at him.

"I'm an excellent tutor" he smiled

"Is that so?" she asked deadpanned "You better be if you want me to graduate with you" she told him poking him the chest.

"I promise" he grinned "I will get you through it"

"You better" She commented as they walked into their next class.

Edward drove Bella home and as soon as they walked in the door she handed him her Calculus book and went and sat down at the table and waited.

"Ok" He chuckled then went over to sit across from her "Lets start with limits"

They sat at the table and went over several theorems and concepts. Finally Bella stood up and announced "I'm hungry, lets take a break" and went to make herself something to eat.

Edward sat at the table and watched her silently as she moved around the kitchen, when she sat down with her food he began quizzing her on the material they had just gone over.

When she was cleaning up she nearly dropped everything on the way to the sink but was able to recover very nicely, until she got too cocky and spilled her soda all over herself.

"Great! Now I have to do laundry!" she complained as she started cleaning up her mess.

Edward came over and crouched next to her "Bella" he said taking her hands in his "Calm down love, we got this" he smiled.

He pulled her into a standing position and kissed her lightly on the lips. "Ill tell you what, why don't you go start your laundry and Ill clean this up then come find you"

"Ok" she said after a few moments then couldn't help but smile "thank you"

"Anytime" he said as he winked at her causing her to laugh.

He kissed her on the lips again then said "go"

Edward had the spilled soda cleaned up in no time but took a few minutes before going to find Bella, giving her some time to herself so hopefully she would calm down a little bit.

Bella had changed into her pajamas and was just closing the washing machine as Edward came into the laundry room.

"Ok" he whispered in her ear as he wrapped his arms around her from behind. "I think I have come up with a new study method."

"And what is this new method of yours?" she asked as she turned around to face him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"It's a reward system of sorts. I think it will help with the material retention." He told her.

"Ok, what's the reward?" she asked

"Me" he grinned.

"Well it seems to me that I already have you" she smirked and leaned in to kiss him.

Before she knew what exactly had happened Edward lifted her up by the waist set her down on dryer and moved across the room.

"That's just mean" she accused as she gave him a dirty look.

Edward laughed "I think it will be very effective, Ill stand over here and for every question you get right I will take a step closer to you. If you get enough correct answers you might just earn your self a kiss"

Bella just stared at him trying to decide if she liked his methods or not.

The "game" started when Edward produced a small dry erase board and marker from nowhere and handed it to Bella then walked to the middle of the room. She just stared at him for a moment until he motioned to the board, she looked down and saw that it had an equation written on it. She didn't seem to like the new direction they had gone but went to work on the problem any way.

The process was a bit slow with Edward moving back and forth over the same general area for awhile when Bella missed as many as she got right. Bella managed to get four correct answers in a row, which brought Edward so close he was nearly toughing her and she could feel his breath on her face as he asked a question about limits. She got distracted as his breath played across her face and she got the answer wrong.

"Oooohh no. The answer was 'the limit does not exist'" he said as he took a step away from her.

Bella's eyes got wide for a moment, and then she sat up straighter staring him straight in the eye. She answered the next question correctly which brought Edward right back to where he was nearly touching her.

She took a quick deep breath and said "Ok. Give me the next one, before I get distracted by you again"

Edward handed her the dry erase board again and waited as she worked out the problem. "Correct" he smiled after she handed him back the board.

He took a small step forward so that his stomach was pressing against her raised knees and placed his hands on her legs. "One last one" he smiled

When she got that one right he grinned at her as he pulled each of her legs down on either side of him so he was standing directly in between her knees.

"wow" she whispered "studying with you is amazing" she added as she leaned forward to meet his lips just as the buzzer for the washing machine went off causing Bella to jump and Edward to laugh.

"I'm sorry! That's all the time we have for tonight" he said taking a step back.

"You are cruel" she groaned.

"Not that cruel" he smirked as he took as step closer and kissed her softly on the lips, her legs coming up to wrap themselves around him.

"I think" he mentioned as he backed away slightly with Bella still wrapped around him "my work here is done"

"You can't leave" she stated simply as she tightened her grip

"I can't?" He asked "Why not?"

"Because I'm going to go up and go to bed now, you wouldn't make me do that alone would you"

"Of course not!" she grinned as he picked her up bridal style and dashed up to her room where he walked in and dropped her on the bed.

"Gee, how romantic" she commented once she stopped bouncing.

"Please forgive me my love, allow me to rectify my mistake

"We'll see" she said rolling her eyes and moving up the bed to get under the covers.

Edward would have thought she was upset with him if it wasn't for the smile pulling at the corner of her mouth. Edward took his shoes off and climbed up the bed to lay down with Bella. Once she got comfortable with his arm around her and her head on his chest he hummed her lullaby until she fell asleep.

Bella was really nervous the next morning as Edward walked her to her Calculus class. "Don't worry" he smiled pulling her in for a hug. "You're going to do great" he promised kissing her forehead.

"Thanks" she smiled, took a deep breath then walked in just as the bell rang.

"Ok class, everything away" The teacher announced as she walked to her seat "pop quiz time!" Bella sat down trying to hide her smile as everyone in the room groaned.

She breezed through her quiz and couldn't help but smile, after she read every question and could hear Edwards voice perfectly explaining how to work though it.

She was surprised to find some of the questions they had worked on at home actually turn up on the test. Then she chuckled to herself when she realized she shouldn't have been surprised at all.

"Miss Swan?" Mr. Varner called from the front of the class "Is there something you'd like to share with the rest of the class?"

"Umm" Bella turned bright red when everyone turned to look at her. "I'm finished?" she finished lamely.

"Oh well then I'll take your quiz here at my desk then"

Thankfully most of the people went back to their quizzes so she didn't have to deal with the pressure of everyone watching her walk to the front, incase she tripped.

Once she turned her test in she had the rest of the period free to do with what she wanted, so she pulled her copy of Withering Heights out of her backpack.

"Soo?" Edward asked when he met her out in the hall.

"I nailed it!" She grinned as she threw her arms around him.

"I knew you would!" he smiled picking her up and spinning her around, causing her to laugh and several people passing them in the hall to stop and stare.

"Come on" Edward smiled as he led Bella toward her locker entertained by her public display.

As they walked to lunch Edward pulled her though the cafeteria to the doors that led to the outside tables.

"Edward where are we going?" She asked

"Outside, to celebrate your success" he smiled

"What about the sun?" she asked

"I've been assured that it wont make an appearance until two, then will get lost in the clouds again just before 3:00 with enough time to leave school and make it home before it shows back up.

"Well then if you've been assured" she smiled as he pulled her outside.

They didn't have to buy lunch today since Bella brought some leftovers from Esme's dinner the other night. Edward led her over to one of the furthest tables from the door. Edward leaned his back against the wall and pulled Bella to rest her back against him.

He kept his chin on her shoulder as she ate and they talked throughout lunch. He would occasionally lean in and kiss her cheek or neck or which ever part of her was available to him at the moment.

Bella was extremely disappointed when the bell rang and signified the end of their cuddle time.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed! if you did hit that little green button lettin me know how much ;)

ALSO! I started a new story "A Look At Love" please go take a look. Ive only posted the first chapter so far but I have some GREAT ideas for it. It is a series of Bella/Edward one shots rated M. so please check it out, the next chapter is comin up with in the next week.


	7. Chapter 7

Um, Hi...

*smiles*

Sorry for the delay...

Long story short: RL got a bit crazy this past year. Im sorry its taken so long to get this story finished.

Good News: Ive finished everything and will be posting the final chapter later this week.

I will be picking back up with all my stories very soon, thanks so much for everyone's patience and understanding.

* * *

"Soooo" Alice started as she came up behind Edward and Bella after the final bell of the day rang. "What are we doing tonight?"

"Still being grounded is the only thing on my agenda" Bella groaned.

"You are the world's most boring teenager" Alice sighed. "Your dad is out of town you are supposed to rebel and defy his orders"

Bella gave her an odd look "You are scaring me, you sound a lot like Jessica."

Alice shot her a dirty look and Edward laughed "She tends to forget that she is over 100 years old" he whispered in Bella's ear.

"Fine! Why don't we just go back to the house and watch a couple movies?" Alice suggested rolling her eyes.

"Perfect" Bella smiled

"Are you sure SHE'S not 100?" Alice asked Edward.

"You can't do something exciting every second of every day Alice" Edward chastised

"Oh believe me I know, I've attend High School 40 hours a week on and off…..for the last 50 years" She added under her breath.

Bella laughed at their banter as they got into Edward's car to head back to the Cullen house.

"OH MOM!" Alice called upon entering the house "The kids are home from school!"

"You have issues" Bella laughed as she put her bag down in a chair next to the door.

"Hi Kids! How was school today?" Esme asked in a hugely elaborate voice as she walked into the living room.

"Great! I nailed my calculus _pop_ quiz" Bella told her.

"That's great" Esme smiled

"Yeah well… I had a lot of …_help_" Bella explained.

"She's just being modest, it's not like I fed you the answers while you were taking the test. I just helped you study" Edward brushed off

"…For a test no one knew was going to happen" Bella joked.

"Well the important thing is that you did well" Esme told her.

"That's what I keep saying" Edward smiled at Bella.

"Bella, I made some cookies this afternoon. Would you like some?" Esme asked

"Sure" Bella agreed following Esme into the kitchen.

"She takes this stay at home mom thing a bit too seriously every now and then" Bella head Alice tell Edward "Next thing you know she's going to sign us up for soccer"

They both laughed.

"I heard that" Esme said seemingly to herself with a chuckle as she placed a tray of cookies in front of Bella.

"I meant you too" Alice called from the living room.

"She spends too much time with Rosalie" Esme told Bella "45 years ago, she would never be so disrespectful" She finished as she tried to hide a smile.

As if she popped out of thin air Alice appeared next to Esme with her arms around her shoulders "Don't be dramatic Esme, you know I love you" Alice smiled as she kissed her cheek.

Esme winked at Alice "I know I just like to hear it every now and then"

"Sorry Mom" Alice apologized with a heart breaking pout.

Esme's answering smile told Bella she was more than forgiven. "Don't worry about it"

"I never do" Alice joked as she walked toward the door at human speed, and then ran 3 steps to the door. Bella was confused until she saw a dish towel swish through the air right behind Alice.

Esme laughed and snapped her fingers pretending to be disappointed she missed.

Bella just laughed as she took a bit of her cookie "Oh my god Esme these are amazing, what kind are they?"

"Chocolate chip?" Esme smiled.

"No, what brand" Bella clarified.

"Oh, I made them from a recipe I once read in a magazine" Esme told her.

"You really need to open that restaurant we talked about" Bella told her reaching for another cookie.

"So you like them?" Esme asked.

"They are amazing" Bella nodded.

"I'm glad you like them" Esme smiled.

"You are going to stop going to all this trouble of cooking for me I'm gonna get spoiled" Bella laughed.

"I would cook for you every day if you wanted me to" Esme told her.

Bella suddenly felt like she was going to cry, all she could do was look up at Esme and smile.

"Bella come choose some movies!" Alice called from the living room.

"Thanks Esme" Bella smiled as she snagged another cookie and left the kitchen. "What are my options?" she asked as she came to stand with Alice and Edward.

"Anything on the shelf" Alice pointed to the shelf that took up the entire wall in front of her.

"You have got to be kidding me" Bella turned to Alice "There has gotta be thousands of DVDs on that shelf, I don't even know where to begin"

"Well, they are arranged by the year they were released then by alphabetical order within that" Alice explained as if it were obvious...

"If it helps at all, these are the ones starting from the year you were born" Edward motioned to an area about half way down.

Bell turned to Alice "You can't just see what I'm gonna pick?"

Alice frowned "No decision was made, so no I can't. Sorry"

"Ok, how about…"Bella started as she looked out at the shelf at the titles.

"Mean Girls" Alice announced and reached out for the movie "Then…Grease, and Dirty Dancing" she finished grabbing the boxes from the shelf.

"Bella you have great taste in movies" Alice commented as she opened the DVD and headed toward the entertainment unit.

"…Thanks" Bella replied confused from her place still standing in front of the DVD shelf.

Edward laughed at her "It's a bit overwhelming dealing with Alice in large doses" He said kissing her cheek. "Come on lets go sit down" he added as he broke the kiss and took her hand leading her to the couch.

Bella made herself comfortable on the couch snuggling up next to Edward, as Alice came to sit on the floor in front of the couch. As the movie's opening credits came on the door to the garage opened.

"Hey Rose, Em you guys wanna join us? Were watching some of your favorites" Alice invited without turning around to face them.

"No thanks" Rosalie responded curtly not even looking in their direction as she headed up the stairs.

"Babe, you love Mean Girls" Emmett smiled up at Rose from the bottom of the stairs.

"I said no" came Rosalie's sharp response.

Emmett turned to Bella and shrugged his shoulders then turned to follow Rosalie up the stairs.

"Don't worry about her" Edward kissed the top of her head. Bella nodded and snuggled in closer to him.

They watched the rest of the movie in relative silence, if you didn't count Bella and Alice reciting all the lines they thought were funny to each other. Bella laughed as Alice recited a few lines in the beginning but stayed relatively quiet. Edward was used to this, having been watching movies with Alice for decades. But there was one moment when he knew she had found her match and that he was in trouble.

"So, if you're from Africa, why are you white?" Alice asked.

"Oh my god Karen! You can't just ask people why they are white!" Bella responded in time to the movie.

"Oh, no…" Edward muttered eyeing Bella.

Alice turned around and beamed at her to which Bella responded "On Wednesday's we wear pink" which caused Alice to laugh out loud and wiggle her eyebrows at Edward.

The rest of the movie passed in them laughing and talking over the movie, paying attention only when their favorite parts were on.

After Mean Girls Alice announce that Bella decided that Grease was next.

Bella surprised Edward yet again when she started singing along with Alice to the opening number.

After they finished singing Summer Nights Bella turned to Edward wide eyed "Oh my god, were you guys ever greasers?"

Edward chuckled pulling Bella back against his chest. "No, we couldn't draw attention to ourselves like that. At that point greasers were slackers and the 'bad crowd'" he said using air quotes "They generally got bad grades, skipped classes and committed petty crimes. We were the children of the esteemed Dr. Cullen, if we had a bad image people would start to look closer. We found early on that people didn't look at the 'good kids' as extensively as they did the bad ones. We like to fly under the radar" He smiled

"Oh yeah, I hadn't noticed" Bella smirked. "I gotta say, I'm a bit disappointed you never wore a leather jacket"

"Well no, not in the 50's, mostly just ties and sweaters" He smiled.

"Hm," Bella paused for a moment "Maybe it's not as disappointing as I thought" She said then looked shocked that she actually said it out loud. Her cheeks reddened immediately causing Edward to smile at her with his crooked smiled.

"I'm going to go find you something to eat!" Alice announced then jumped up immediately and headed for the kitchen.

Bella looked over to see where Alice had gone when she was interpreted by Edward leaning in and kissing her.

Neither one of them noticed the movie playing in front, nor anything else for that matter until Alice quietly cleared her throat. Bella looked up and noticed that she had bought a sandwich from the kitchen.

"So, um ties and a sweater?" Bella asked trying to act nonchalant as she moved to sit on the floor in front of the coffee table to eat her dinner.

"Yep" Edward laughed as Alice rolled her eyes at him.

"And what about you" Bella asked "Let me guess…. poodle skirts?"

"Oh no" Edward whispered.

"Ew no. I HATE poodle skirts" Alice stated firmly.

"Wow…ok" Bella responded surprised.

"Yeah" Edward mouthed and nodded when Bella looked to him for an explanation.

"I really LOVED the 50's" Alice smiled sweetly "That was an amazing decade. But as far as fashion goes I loved the tulle skirts and cardigans, I just did not care for the poodle. Would you want to walk around wearing a skirt that had a lettuce leaf on it?" Alice asked

"No I guess not" Bella laughed. "It's fun to think of you guys walking around dressed like that" She pointed to the screen.

"This wasn't that bad, you should have seen the 70's and 80's"Alice answered with a smirk.

"Really?" Bella's eyes widened

"Yeah, I'll show you the photo albums sometime" Alice promised.

After Bella finished eating she climbed back onto the couch with Edward. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to lay with her head on his chest. Once Grease ended Bella said she was still up for the last movie when Alice noticed that she was falling asleep.

Bella opened her eyes slowly and stretched. She noticed two things immediately, she couldn't see anything but darkness and she was no longer in the living room watching movies with Edward and Alice.

"Oh my god!" she breathed and sat straight up.

"Bella?" came Edward's worried response.

She tried to get up but was wrapped in the blanket Edward had covered her in. "What time is it?"

"Just after 3am" He answered confused.

"What? I gotta get home I have to call Charlie!" she said still struggling with the blanket.

"Bella love, calm down" He said placing a hand on her knee.

"No! I need to get home" She interrupted, finally managing to stand up

"Bella, shhhh hold on for just a second" Edward stood up and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"What?" She demanded.

"We already called him" He told her.

"You…..what?"

"Yeah" He smiled "Esme called him at nine. She told him she drove you home because you were exhausted and that you were heading straight up to bed. She said you had a long day and that she made sure you ate dinner and that she would stay until you went to sleep"

"And, he believed her?" She asked starting to calm down.

"Well, she called from your house, sooo I'm thinking it went over pretty well" He smiled.

"Oh….um, ok" Bella stammered as her tired mind tried to keep up.

"Shhh" Edward smiled kissing her forehead. "Come on let's get you back to bed"

Bella cuddled up against Edward and shut her eyes once again.

"Sorry we don't have anything more comfortable than a couch for you to sleep on" He whispered kissing her ear.

"I am very comfortable." Bella smiled, nuzzling into his chest. "Sorry I fell asleep during the movie"

"Don't worry about it, you had a long day" he reminded her.

"I hope Alice wasn't too mad at me"

"Nope, she went off with Rosalie to hunt shortly after you fell asleep" He told her.

"Good" Bella whispered just as she was nodding off "I love you" she mumbled as she drifted off causing Edward to smile.

* * *

I have started a twitter account, so if anyone wants to follow me there im erica714. I update with the status of some stories, post some awesome pics and generally just fangirl out over there lol. Feel free to ask any questions you may have on there too! see you all again soon ;)


	8. Chapter 8

HEEEEERRRREEE we go the final chapter of While Charlie's Away! yay!

Thanks for everyone who's read/enjoyed/favorited/followed/reviewed this story I really appreciate it.

Hope you enjoy this. let me know ;)

* * *

"Love, wake up" Edward whispered "Come on" he said kissing her cheek.

She grumbled and tried to roll away from him.

"Charlie is going to be home around 12, we have to get you fed and home before then"

Bella fought Edward off for a few minutes before he finally caught her attention by placing soft kisses on and around her lips.

"There are those beautiful eyes" Edward smiled, kissing her "What do you want for breakfast?" he asked just as there was a knock at the door.

"Come in" Edward whispered kissing Bella once more.

"Good morning Bella, Edward" Esme smiled as she opened the door. "I was hoping you would let me take you out to breakfast before your father gets home"

Edward looked down at Bella

"That would be nice." Bella smiled

"Good" Esme smiled "Get dressed and we'll go once you are ready, take your time there's no rush" Esme said as she left the room.

"You don't mind do you?" Bella asked turning to look at Edward.

"Mind you spending time with Esme?" He smirked "No, not at all, I think it's a wonderful area. It will make her very happy."

"Ok, good" she whispered and leaned into kiss his lips. "I'm. Excited. About. It. Too" she informed him between kisses.

"Although" he breathed against her lips "If this is what we will be spending our time doing, I don't want you to leave"

"Or, I can just say here" she agreed quickly, threading her fingers into his hair and pulled him closer.

They kissed for several minutes, Bella holding on to Edward as tightly as she could. When he realized it had been some time since he heard her take a breath, he backed away a fraction of an inch. The loud intake of air that followed told them she had realized too.

He leaned his forehead against hers "As much as I'd love to lay here with you forever, Charlie will be home soon and you do need to eat. I think you and Esme will have fun."

"Ok, fine" Bella pouted "If you insist" then got up and headed to the bathroom to get ready. Esme had grabbed her a few things when she went to her house to call Charlie.

After brushing her teeth and hair she got dressed and headed downstairs.

Edward and Esme were sitting on the couch talking, as she approached they both turned to look at her. "You ready to go dear?" Esme asked.

"Yep all set" Bella smiled.

"I'll leave you to your goodbyes then" Esme told her as she stood and walked towards the garage "I'll be in the car"

Edward stood and pulled Bella into his arms. She immediately wrapped her arms tight around his waist. "I'm going to miss you" She whispered into his chest.

"You'll see me tonight when I stop by for my official visit, then later when it's time for you to sleep." He promised.

"I know. I just, I mean this week we got to just be….us, together. No curfew, no angry Dad staring, or being stuck in my house all the time" Bella explained.

He kissed the top of her head "I really enjoyed this week" He agreed. "It will be that way again soon. Charlie is a sensible man, he won't keep you grounded forever"

"Yeah" she nodded "I know. I just…" She looked up at him trying to figure out what she wanted to say "I just….Love you" She grinned.

Edward beamed "I love you Isabella." He returned as he leaned down to capture her lips with his.

"Come on Esme is waiting" Edward smiled taking her hand and leading her to the garage. Esme was sitting in the driver's seat of a black SUV Bella had never seen.

Edward opened the door for her and buckled her seatbelt once she got in. After kissing her softly on the lips and then her forehead he closed the door and leaned in the open window. "Have fun you two." He said with a wink at Bella.

Bella reached up to stroke his cheek "We will" she promised "I'll see you later"

Edward leaned into her hand then kissed her palm. "I'll see you later" He repeated as he pulled away from the car and Esme pulled out of the garage.

Bella watched Edward in the side mirror until the driveway turned and she couldn't see him anymore. She realized she was being watched, when she turned to the side she found Esme grinning as she drove. Bella's cheeks burned at once.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you" Esme apologized "I'm just so thrilled to see you both so happy"

Bella smiled back.

"So," Esme asked "Where would you like to eat?"

"We don't have to eat if you don't want. You can just take me home and I can eat later. I don't want to force you to eat." Bell tried to explain.

"I don't mind, if you don't." Esme smiled. "I just wanted to spend some time with you, if that's ok"

"Of course" Bella smiled "I just don't want you to be uncomfortable"

"Eating doesn't bother me as much as it does the others" Esme told her "Carlisle and I go to several hospital functions a year; charity events, dinners that sort of thing. It starts to look odd if you pay for the meal but don't eat it"

"Oh, well as long as your sure" Bella smiled

"I'm sure. Where would you like to go?" Esme asked. It was almost a trick question seeing as there was really only two restaurants in Forks, the diner and the lodge.

"The diner would be fine" Bella answered.

"The diner it is then" Esme smiled

They pulled in and were greeted right away, as they were walking to their table someone called out "Bella hey!"

Bella turned towards the call "Angela" Bella smiled as Angela came over to hug her.

"Breakfast with the Mom huh?" Angela whispered in her year "Nice!" She added as she backed away.

"Yep" Bella grinned with small nod "I'll see you at school" Bella added as Angela was leaving with her parents.

"Bye Bella, Mrs. Cullen" Angela waved as she followed her family out.

"A friend from school." Bella explained to Esme as they sat and the waitress gave them their menus.

"Angela Webber" Esme nodded "She's in your grade, her father is a minister and her mother stays at home. She also has twin nine year old brothers"

Bella just looked at her.

Esme smiled "Her father does a lot of work with the hospital, we run into them from time to time, they are lovely people. Edward says Angela is just as kind"

"Yeah she's great" Bella agreed as the waitress brought their drinks.

"So what are you going to get?" Esme asked looking excited as she read her menu.

Bella laughed "I'm thinking eggs and toast"

Esme looked up "Oh, Bella. Please get something a bit bigger, you've gotten so thin recently"

Seeing the look of concern on Esme's face Bella nodded then reopened her menu.

"You ladies ready?" The waitress asked.

"Bella?" Esme asked.

"Um, I'll have the French toast" Bella answered looking towards Esme who grinned.

"And for you?" The waitress asked Esme.

"I will take the eggs and toast please." Esme smiled politely handing the waitress the menu

Bella's mouth fell open.

"Sound great, it will be right out" The waitress smiled and left the table.

"Traitor!" Bella accused with a fake shocked look.

Esme smiled "You need to eat more, I just need to eat….something as to not look out of place.

"Fine" Bella sighed "But I'll be watching you from here on out"

Esme laughed "I'll be sure to keep that in mind"

"Good" Bella smiled.

Esme looked over at Bella and suddenly very seriously asked "How are you doing Bella?"

"I'm….ok" Bella answered taken by surprise.

"I know that our….leaving wasn't easy on you" Esme started.

Bella frowned and nodded, looking at the table.

"I know Edward and Alice have been concerned" Esme continued as she reached across the table to lay her hands on Bella's.

Bella looked up at her touch and nodded "I'm doing good, now"

"Good" Esme smiled "I know that it was very difficult for you and I just want you to know that it was extremely hard on the whole family. As I'm sure you know Edward didn't have an easy time of it either"

"I know" Bella nodded looking down again.

"Just know that it wasn't something we wanted to do, we all missed you terribly and knew that it wasn't what was best for either of you. I just want you to know that I am sorry for allowing it to happen"

Bella's eyes shot up to Esme's "It's not your fault. It wasn't anybody's fault I don't blame anyone"

"I know, and I knew you wouldn't" Esme squeezed her hand reassuringly "I just, I want you to know that it wasn't only Edward who came back to you. You have an entire family of people who love you Bella"

"I love you guys too" Bella smiled.

"I don't want to make you remember bad times or relive anything, but aside from apologizing I wanted to thank you" Esme told her.

Bella's eyebrows knitted together "For what?"

"For brining my family back to me." Esme told her "And I don't just mean coming home from Italy physically with Edward and Alice. You have brought us all back together emotionally, you fixed my family Bella"

"No I…" Bella started

"Bella, you are a part of my family and even though we didn't realize it before we met you, we didn't function properly. We were not whole, with you we are. You have come into our lives and changed things for the better. So while I thank you for bringing my children back home to me. What I am most thankful for is you and your ability to love Edward. Your love for him has changed him into a better person."

Bella smiled "You don't have to thank me for anything, especially for loving Edward. If anything I should be finding someone to thank, God, or maybe some other divine being that he loves me too." She tried to explain as her eyes became glassy.

Esme smiled "You don't see how important you are to him, to all of us really, I love you Bella. As one of my own, as my family I want you to know that. We all do. That's why I wanted to talk to you today. I know you love Edward and he loves you, but I wanted you to know that we think of you as a part of this family, and I know Edward is having a hard time with the idea of changing you. But no matter when it happens and it will happen Bella you are just as much a part of our family as anyone else is."

The tears that had threatened to spill over did at this.

"I love you too Esme" Bella smiled "All of you" She managed to get out before the tears started really flowing.

"Oh dear, I'm sorry" Esme said "I didn't mean to make you cry" She reached into her purse and handed Bella a handkerchief.

"Thank you" Bella smiled as she whipped her eyes, after a moment Bella looked up at Esme "A handkerchief?"

Esme chuckled "Old habits die hard I guess"

Bella laughed at that.

"In my time it was social decorum for ladies to carry around handkerchiefs at all times. You would think after almost 90 years I would move on" Esme joked.

Bella laughed and dabbed her eyes again.

"Ok girls here we are" The waitress laid their food down on the table. Can I get you anything else?"

"No thank you" Esme smiled.

As the waitress walked away Bella looked down "Oh Esme, I'm sorry. I'll wash this and get it back to you"

Esme smiled taking a bite of her eggs "You keep that one, I have hundreds"

"Thank you" Bella smiled looking down at it. ""E.A.P' what is 'E.A.P'?"

"My initials, Esme Anne Platt, my father gave me this set when I turned 16"

"Oh Esme, I couldn't. I'll make sure to get it back to you" Bella told her.

Esme laughed "Don't be silly Bella. I want you to have it. Think of it as a gift, a family heirloom if you will"

"Thank you" Bella beamed.

"Anytime." Esme returned.

They ate in silence for a few minutes until Esme looked up at Bella "Ok last bit of heavy talk. If you ever need anything, even if it's something you can't talk to Edward about. I want you to know you can come talk to me. It must be hard for you to be so far away from your mother. So if you need anything at all please know you can some talk to me"

"Thank you" Bella smiled "I appreciate that"

As they were finishing their meal Esme's phone beeped, she reached into her bag, pulled it out and read the text message she had received.

Esme closed her phone and put it away "Your father will be home in about 20 minutes, so as soon as you are ready, we should get going"

Bella nodded and took one last bite "I'm done. Unless you're still hungry and would like some of mine…"

"No thank you" Esme shook her head

"Then I'm ready" Bella laughed.

They walked to the front and Esme paid the bill, leaving a hefty tip for the waitress. It was a short ride back to Bella's house which was good because right as they pulled up to the curb Charlie pulled the cruiser into the driveway.

"Hey Dad" Bella smiled as she got out of the car.

"Hey Bells" Charlie smiled and pulled her into a one armed hug.

"How was your trip" Bella asked

"It was great" Charlie smiled "Were you out just now?" he asked

"I hope you don't mind" Esme came up from behind Bella "I took Bella out to breakfast"

"Oh, no I don't mind" Charlie smiled at Esme.

"She was just such a great prisoner, I thought she deserved it. I wished my kids behaved as well" Esme told him.

"That's great" Charlie smiled at Bella "Thank you so much for keeping an eye on her"

"It was my pleasure really" Esme assured him. "Well I should get going, Bella it was good to see you" she told her opening her arms.

"It was good to see you too Esme" Bella replied as she hugged her.

"Your overnight bag is in your room" Esme whispered in her ear as she kissed her on the cheek "See you later"

"Bye Esme, thanks for breakfast" Bella smiled

"Anytime" Esme waved as she got in the car.

"You know I'm really impressed with you" Charlie said as he watched Esme drive away.

"What?" Bella asked confused.

"Most kids would have taken advantage of their parents being out of town. But you didn't" He said as they started walking back towards the house "You are really a good kid."

"Thanks Dad" Bella smiled.

"It's true. You know what, why don't you take the rest of the weekend off punishment."Charlie said.

"Seriously?" Bella asked shocked.

"Yeah, from now until tomorrow night at 9. You deserve a break, you're probably tired of the inside of this house." Charlie told her.

"Thanks Dad!" Bella smiled and headed for the phone. As she reached for it, it rang.

"We will be there in 30 minutes! Make sure you pack a bag" Alice said as Bella picked up the phone.

"Sounds good" Bella chuckled and hung the phone back up.

"Dad, I'm gonna go spend the night with Alice!" Bella called as she ran up the stairs.

* * *

Thanks again for reading!

Make sure to check out my other stories (if you want ;)) Ill be updating A Look At Love very soon

And remember I'm on Twitter erica714


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